The present invention relates to a flat bed knitting machine having an oil feeding device that feeds oil to knitting members including needles, jacks and sinkers that are arranged in parallel with each other on the needle beds of the flat knitting machine.
The present applicant proposed a flat bed knitting machine having an oil feeding device that was disclosed in Japanese Patent Opening Hei 4-333649. The oil feeding device comprises a feed pump being provided on the machinery of the flat bed knitting machine, lubricant oil contact members such as brushes, being provided on the carriage that reciprocates and scans over needle beds, and flexible oil tubes (interconnecting pipe) connecting the pump and the contact members. In this flat knitting machine, as brushes for applying lubricant oil are provided to the carriage, oil feeding is made within a traveling range of the carriage or fabric knitting range. Accordingly, unlike the prior art, it is not necessary to shift the carriage to oil feeding brushes being fixed at one side end of the needle beds every specified travel to apply lubricant oil to cams being provided to the carriage even when not all the needles of the needle beds are used, for example, when a fabric having a small knitting width is to be knitted. Thus wasteful travel of the carriage and oil feeding to needles not requiring oil feeding can be prevented.
The operation, however, of charging the brushes with lubricant oil may be effected manually by an operator through pumping, or it may be done automatically every specified period when the oil feeding pump is a motor-driven pump. These arrangements pose the following problems. In the case of manual pumping, an operator may sometimes forget charging the brushes with lubricant oil which may cause seizure or friction between needles and cams engaging with each other. Moreover, if the timing of pumping is not appropriate, oil may be fed to needles not requiring oil feeding. In the case of motor-driven pumping, oil is fed every specified period, every specified number of knitted fabric, or at fixed intervals. This method is not desirable because, unlike the circular knitting machine, knitting is not effected circumferentially in a fixed direction in the flat bed knitting machine and the carriage reciprocates over the needle beds by reversing at appropriate points according to knitting data or knitting width. When two or more fabrics are simultaneously knitted by reciprocating the carriage over needles of different zones of the needle beds, such methods are commonly called two-fabric knitting, three-fabric knitting and multi-fabric knitting, oil feeding by means of contact members utilizing capillarity of brushes, felts, etc. results in repetition of useless oil feeding to needles that are located between respective fabrics being knitted and are not used for knitting.
One object of the present invention is to provide a flat bed knitting machine having an oil feeding device that feeds oil to the respective knitting members at appropriate time, namely, at effective points (including place and time) according to the degree of usage of each of the knitting members such as needles, jacks and sinkers in knitting a fabric or fabrics.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a flat bed knitting machine having an oil feeding device that can selectively feed oil to knitting members at specified points on the needle beds. The flat bed knitting machine having an oil feeding device according to the present invention has at least a pair of a front needle bed and a rear needle bed, wherein a plurality of knitting members such as needles and jacks are positioned parallel to each other on the needle beds such that they move forwards and backwards, and a carriage moving and scanning reciprocally on the needle beds and having cams for selecting and operating knitting members according to knitting data for knitting a knitted fabric and is characterized by:
an oil feeding device including a lubricant oil supplying means for supplying lubricant oil through interconnection pipes to oil feeders being provided to the carriage for feeding lubricant oil to said plurality of knitting members;
oil feeding data processing means for determining and outputting knitting members to be fed with lubricant oil as oil feeding data according to the knitting data or a locus of the carriage; and
control means for controlling the oil feeding device according to the oil feeding data during knitting of the knitted fabric such that said knitting members to be fed are fed with lubricant oil.
Thus the oil feeding data processing means selects knitting members to be fed with oil from the knitting members such as needles and jacks being arranged on the needle beds according to the knitting data of a fabric or fabrics to be knitted or the locus of the carriage and expresses them as oil feeding data. The oil feeding data may be written in the knitting data in advance. Then, according to the oil feeding data, the control means operates the oil feeding device to feed oil to the knitting members to be fed with oil. In this way, as oil is fed to necessary knitting members, oil can be fed efficiently in contrast to a piece of prior art where oil is fed to all the knitting members. Moreover, as oil feeding is automatically made during knitting, the knitting efficiency will be improved and there will be no damage to knitting members due to missed oil feeding.
It is preferable that said control means controls the oil feeders. Controlling the oil feeders rather than controlling the oil pump, etc. of the lubricant oil supplying means, which has slow response, facilitates selective oil feeding to the knitting members to be fed with oil.
It is preferable that said oil feeding data processing means determines said knitting members to be fed with oil by evaluating numbers of operations of knitting members according to the knitting data. Knitting data easily shows which knitting member is used what times. The number of operations of the knitting member may be determined accurately for each individual knitting member, or may be approximated.
It is particularly preferable that said oil feeding data processing means determines said numbers of operations of knitting members before knitting of a knitted fabric according to the knitting data of said knitted fabric. In this way, before knitting, the knitting data may be read in advance to determine the numbers of operations of knitting members. This allows easier data processing in comparison with the case wherein the numbers of operations of knitting members are determined during knitting.
It is preferable that said oil feeding data processing means determines the locus of the carriage during knitting of a fabric and determines knitting members to be fed from the determined locus of the carriage. The locus of the carriage will show which knitting members are used what times. Hence knitting members within some locus can be estimated to have been used.
It is particularly preferable that said oil feeding data processing means determines said knitting members to be fed by counting numbers of operations of knitting members by the carriage. Here, when the carriage selects and operates a knitting member, this will be detected to count the number of operations. In this way, the number of operations of each knitting member can be determined from the movement of the carriage.
It is preferable that said plurality of knitting members are grouped into plural blocks, that said oil feeding data processing means determines said knitting members to be fed block by block, and that said oil feeders feed oil to knitting members block by block. As oil feeding is made block by block, oil feeders may be ones that can not selectively feed oil to the individual knitting members. Knitting members to be fed can be determined roughly block by block.
Such oil feeders comprise contact members that contact, for example, knitting members to supply lubricating oil, such as brush, felt, sponge, cloth or belt. Actuators are preferably provided to move the contact members between a position wherein the contact members contact knitting members and a position wherein the contact members do not contact knitting members, and the actuators are controlled by said control means. In this way, oil can be fed selectively to blocks to be fed.
It is preferable that said oil feeding data processing means determines said knitting members to be fed by counting numbers of operations of respective knitting members by the carriage and by comparing the numbers counted with a predetermined threshold value. In this way, knitting members to be fed can be determined accurately and oil can be fed selectively to them.
It is preferable that said oil feeders are provided with a jet-type nozzle for spraying lubricant oil.
It is particularly preferable that said jet-type nozzle sprays lubricant oil selectively to respective knitting members to be fed while the carriage travels.
It is most preferable that said jet-type nozzle sprays lubricant oil to respective knitting members to be fed in a synchronous manner that the carriage selects said respective knitting members. In this way, whenever the carriage selects a knitting member to be fed, said knitting member can be fed with oil in synchronization with its selection.
It is preferable that said oil feeding data processing means accumulates the numbers of operations of knitting members for a plurality of the knitted fabrics to be knitted according to the knitting data and determines knitting members to be fed
It is preferable that said oil feeding data processing means determines knitting members to be fed from the locus of the carriage over a plurality of knitted fabrics.
In this way, oil can be fed reliably to knitting members that do not require oil feeding for knitting a single knitted fabric but require oil feeding for knitting a plurality of knitted fabrics.